


Cat

by komru



Series: AU-other mentors [1]
Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Catlad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-07
Updated: 2015-04-07
Packaged: 2018-03-21 18:28:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,865
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3701967
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/komru/pseuds/komru
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“I got that necklace you’ve been looking, and some awesome diamonds. ”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cat

 

Hera wakes up from her nap the moment she hears the quiet steps she got used to in this couple of months in the distance. She gracefully looks up to the window and the little thing that slide in, returning from his little trip. Hera gracefully stands up and stretches her limbs to her paws and claws. She purrs as the little thing was closing the window and taking off his jacket. Hera moves to the nearest shelf with one smooth jump, and waits for the greeting from the kitten.

She meows as the kitten takes off his costume, grunting with frustration. He looks over her, shows a little smile, and gently taps his nose to hers. She purrs satisfied at his little greeting. Her little kitten is back and safe, she’ll be able to rest for tonight.

“Hey there, Mama-cat.”

Hera purrs once more to her kitten and jumps off the shelf, and slides between the door that leads to the living room where all her others waited.

She sees Selina sitting on the sofa comfortably when Hera approached her.

 

“Is he home?”

 

Hera purrs at her once and curl herself next to Selina, enjoying the softness of the sofa cushion beneath her. She hears Buttercup jumping near her and purring at Selina.

 

 

“I hope you got something for me, Kitten.”

She hears the little thing coming in; he had a small bag in hand when she looks up.

“Hello to you too, Boss.”

 

Hera isn’t bothered when he sits just next to her on the sofa, she feels more comfortable when his little fingers softly scratching her fur on the back.  
  
“I got that necklace you’ve been looking, and some awesome diamonds. ”

  
Hera knew the child had it with him when he got back, and she knew very well that Selina didn’t much care if he got it tonight or not.  They both know that their kitten wants to prove himself of being worthy to stay. Hera knows her kitten wants to show his capability of bringing in kills, and if that satisfies his need to assure his place then Hera sure as heck would let him do what he has to do. There is no need for that, but her kitten is too young to understand that. Or so she thinks.  
  


She knows Selina is on the same page with her on this.

“This is beautiful, kitten.”  
  


  Satisfied, Jason leans on the sofa arm, looking at what Selina and the rest of the cats watched while they wait for his return. Muffins jump to the back of the sofa, rubbing herself to Jason’s head as a greeting. She purrs when he scratches the back of her ears, and lies comfortably along his shoulders.  Like a cue, the rest of the little ones goes and greet Jason as well.

Hera huffs at how much the little ones have taken in her little kitten, and thinks how much she was against in allowing the little dirty boy in their territory at first. She couldn’t stay away too long when she saw the little thing couldn’t hunt for himself, and started to baby him.

“Did you run in to the big scary bat and his little pretty bird?”

  
He huffs and knits his brows. Hera knows that expression too well.

Groaning a little, he looks back at the TV.

“Yeah. The Bat gave me the lecture. Again.”  
  


Selina chuckles a little and ruffles his hair. Hera looks at the sweaty hair and makes a note that he needs a bath.  
  


“He was also asking where you were. Like, all the darn time.”

He points up the two little index fingers on both of the sides of his head, and spoke with a very, very low voice.

“ _Jason, what you’re doing is criminal activity. Jason, return the diamonds and the necklace immediately. Jason, where is your mentor. Jason you’re 12 years old, did you do your homework. Jason, where is Catwoman. Jason, tell Selina I need to talk to her_. _Yes tomorrow!_ ” 

His voice cracks a little due to the deep range that he is normally not used to. Selina smiles and pinches his cheek, where Jason just giggles and lays back in the couch. Hera is really bothered how Jason hasn’t got his bath yet. She stretches and meows at Muffin to move. She jumps and takes the place, and starts grooming Jason.

“Agh, I’m going to shower soon, Mama-cat.”

Hera continues grooming him nevertheless. He _had_ been out for a while.

“She is right though. You stink, kitten.”

Selina kisses him on the cheek and stands to leave the room.

“Go get shower and sleep. You got school tomorrow.”

Jason huffs in frustration. While he enjoys studying (which he will never admit to anybody, which Hera doesn’t understand because even the little ones that still can’t stand knows that by now), he dislikes Mr. Jacobson. Hera never heard the end of how useless as a teacher this human was.

“Fine. Are you going to meet him tomorrow then?”

Selina leans back to look at Jason from the entrance to her room.

“We’ll see.”

She smirks at him and retrieves to her room.  
Jason made some gaging sound. The last thing he wanted in his mind was Selina and Batman being _Selina and Batman._

He huffs again and stands up when Hera jumps off to the floor. She meows at Jason, telling him to get a shower now.

“I’m not that dirty though-agh! Fine! I’ll go!”

Hera hisses once more and swaps at his legs to hurry up. Jason walks quicker.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hera isn’t happy. She hates the city at night where she could hear sirens louder than when she is in the safety of their apartment. She was in the mood to walk though. Get some fresh air. She looks at the little kitten sitting on the ledge of the building, looking down at the shadows moving. The wind blows and his hair flows with it. He needs a cut soon.

She knows that her kitten came from the shadow below; he had a life before coming to them. Hera meows at her kitten, rubs her head. _No matter_ , she tries to tell him. _You’re my kitten now_ , she wants to tell him. He looks down at her and picks her up to his lap and gives her a sweet gentle nose-to-nose tap.

She licks him a little bit, which earns a little smile from him. She looks at the shadow behind him and hiss once. Intruder.

“Hey birdy.”

Jason doesn’t turn around to see the intruder and Hera feels her claws coming out.

“Hey kitty.”

Jason turns with a scold to see Robin standing there with his bright yellow, red and green. The smirk on his face makes Hera want to slash her claws on his cheek. She doesn’t like these birds that keep on pestering them.

“Whad’ya want.”

“Well for starters, you could return those pretty rocks you stole yesterday.”

Robin sat next to him and tries to pet Hera, but was returned with a hiss and a swap of claws almost getting him. She hated being pet by strangers. Or by Robin. Especially Robin. Definitely not.

Robin mutters something like “feisty”, but Jason didn’t bother to listen.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Uh-huh.”

Hera looks at Jason and sees her kitten looking for escape rout if the young man tries anything remotely like an attack. She is proud of her little thing to have learned from them. Jason’s goggles are tinted with color, hiding his curious eyes, but Hera knows he is looking at her.

“Don’t be like that. I’m not gonna hurt you, you know that right?”

Jason gives him a cold, _uh-huh_. Hera gives him a hiss when he leans in a little. He better stay at least ten paws away from her kitten.

“Jason.”

“No names on the field _._ You’re sucha _dick_.”

Hera hears the bird sigh with exasperation, but holds his hands in surrender.

“You’re right. Sorry. _Catlad_.”

Jason groans. Hera looks up at Jason but is returned with a gentle scratch.

“I don’t like that name.”

“Well, it’s the name you’re known for.”

Hera can hear the little teasing notes in Robin’s voice. She hisses once more.

“Whatever.”

  
A welcoming silence fills them and Hera blinks slowly. She can’t feel the warmth from her kitten through the thick material he was wearing but she was comfortable.

 

“You know what they’re talking about?”

Jason doesn’t look at the young man next to him, but at the distant light of Gotham ahead. He pets Hera gently and so she purrs.

 

“Oh you know, it’s them.”

“…Right.”

 

The silence comes back, but this time it’s awkward. Hera licks her paws, ready to attack or run if she has to. If they have to.

“So. How have you been.”

“Suck it, birdy boy. I’m not in the mood.”

Hera stretches her claws, it’s only time for her little thing to stand and leave. She feels the chilly air, blowing Jason’s hair that is sticking out of his little soft helmet.

“Well ok. Fine. I don’t know.”

Jason doesn’t look at him at all, but Hera knows what is going through his head. She meows at him once _. Kitten, don’t think that. You’re ours_. _You belong with us._

“Jay. You know he cares for you, right? For the two of you.”

Jason snorts and looks at the bird, Hera sees the reflection of the other boy in his goggles.

 

“Why? There is nothing but my boss being my _boss_ that connects any of us. Well, only that if you don’t include the whole running from you _dynamic-duo_ trying to catch me from doing my _job_.”

The young man starts to tense up and Hera knows a clash is coming.

“Ok, first of all? What you’re doing is illegal. You’re stealing from people. You shouldn’t be up this late because you’re a kid, and certainly shouldn’t be doing this as a _job_.”

Hera can feel the energy change within Jason. She knows he is angry now. She slides up, stretches and waits for the run.

“ _You_ were out with _him_ when you were even younger than I am right now. Don’t give me the whole _you’re a kid_ lecture, _dick_.”

“I was _trained_. By _him._ ”

 

“I’m training _with her_.”  
  
 “You’re just copying what she does. Do you know how dangerous it is for you to be running around poking at people who aren’t scared to actually shoot at a kid? You almost got shot _yesterday_.”

“I was not.”

“And don’t give me the whole _I-don’t-care-about-you-people-at-all_ bull-shit. You hate people being hurt. You make sure you can untie us whenever we _occasionally_ get into some nasty situation, and you make sure you inform us whenever you hear something that could, oh I don’t know, be a problem to us. You’re more of a hero than this little thief shenanigan you’re going with. For god sakes, Jason, _we have a chilli-dog night where we eat chilli-dog together on the rooftop_.”

 

Hera hits her tail at the young man and growls. She doesn’t like him. She doesn’t like a lot of people in this world.  The young man doesn’t seem to be that bothered by it. Hera doesn’t like that either.

 

“So stop this sour pouting and try not to embarrass us both with it.”

Jason grumbles and fidgets a little. He mumbles that he doesn’t pout and continues petting Hera. She briefly wonders if she should re-educate her kitten into recognizing danger, and flee when the other seems stronger.

There is another silence between them. The breezing sound of the wind makes Hera’s ear tingle, she smells rain in the distance.

The dark clouds are shifting fast, and Hera feels in her body the time passing by.

It was only moments when they hear two shadows dropping by.

Jason and the young man turned around but Hera recognized the atmosphere.

She purrs at the woman who is one of them now. She smiles at her kitten and silently signals to retreat home. Hera feels Jason look back to the man that is fully intergraded with the shadow, as well as to the young man, but simply bobs his head ones and stood up in one smooth movement.

Today wasn’t a hunting night but a meeting, Hera realized. She quickly jumps back to the hold of her kitten, and enjoyed the flight.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“No.”

“I haven’t said anything yet, kitten.”

They’ve returned home and Hera is trying to clean herself. She feels rather disgusting whenever she goes along with Jason’s little hunting trips. The city was never clean and Hera never liked her white-beige fur get smoky dark dirt on it.

“I know what he told you. He told you to give me away. That having me was a mistake. That all what I do is _dangerous_.”

Selina looks straight at Jason, expression held back. Hera knows well enough that she is slightly amused at the kitten but won’t try to show it. Hera meows once, just to chide at her.

“Darling, you know you’re a part of this family.”

  
She slides down on the sofa, taking off her black leather top and puts on the tank top she left on the sofa arm.

“But. I hear a but.”

Selina flicks his nose gently, while Hera flips her tail.

“But. He cares for you, a great deal. There’s something happening soon _\- and before you ask-_ I don’t really know what.”

She waves her hand in dismissal.

“He wants to train you so you can protect yourself from any harm.”

“Why would he even do that.”

“Well, it’s probably because he knows you won’t stop going out there, _Catlad_.”

Jason pouts a little bit; he hates that name, Selina knows it too well. It makes him sound like a child. Her child. Hera knows that while he does think of her like his second mother (not that he would ever admit it out loud except to Hera herself who is his second and a half mother), it makes him sound like a small kid and he does not like that. Hera purrs in agreement with her though.

He _wants_  to _(he needs to)_ go out there, so they have to have a counter plan.

“In any case, I think it’s a good idea. He knows who you are and cares for you. Take up the chance when you got it, kitten. Always.”

“But I don’t…this is my home.”

Jason drops himself down to the sofa, grunting a little. Hera sees the opportunity and sits on his lap, stretches to rub her head into the crook of his neck, trying to sooth his irritation.

She knows that Jason understands what is the best thing to do. Gotham isn’t a safe place, even for those who were born and raised. She knows that the wind is cold and that finding kindness is hard when you live in this dark city.

She knows that Jason learns everything from watching Selina, and from what she could teach him herself. She also knows that while Slina could teach him everything she knows, _more_ and _different_ are always beneficial.

“Don’t get all sulky on me, Jason.”

Selina kneels in front of Jason, holding both of his puffed out cheek to face her. Hera meows at Jason who’s trying the best to look anywhere but Selina. The child should know by now that he should respect the strongest of the household.

She bats him with her paw, chiding him and projecting the - _don’t be an idiot and look at her_ at her little child.

“Can you please look at me?”

The soft paw wasn’t enough. Hera knows how stubborn he can get, so she does what all mothers do.

“Aw!”

She scratches him lightly.

Selina finds it endearing how Jason will give a glow but will listen to Hera; he is now meeting her eyes. There is a small crease between his brow, but it’s getting soothed by Selina’s thumb, Hera wonders if she should lick it clean as well. She doesn’t want it to stick there and makes him look angry all the time.

“…I just want to stay with you. I don't want you to give me away. I don’t know.”

Hera wonders what happened to Jason’s first mother. She wonders if she ever taught him how to hunt before Selina or she did. She wonders if she washed him all the dirt or lick it better whenever he got hurt.

“Why would you think I would _give you away_? Darling, it’s only for the afternoons and maybe weekend. He wants to train you, not take you away.”

Hera meows in agreement, knowing that she is going to follow him. She looks straight into Jason’s eyes and wonders if he would ever be able to read her like Selina can. She hopes so. She thinks he is learning. She hopes he knows how much she cares for the little thing.

“And Hera here is probably going to stick with you. You know how much she worries about you, kitten.”

 

Yes she does, Hera huffs and rubs her head to his palm. She can still see his pout but it’s also covering his smile that is almost there.

“I just want you to learn everything you can when you have the chance.”

Selina kisses him and Hera can feel him deflate, agreeing to this.

“Fine. I’ll go. I won’t like it, but I’ll go.”

“Sure you won’t, darling. It would be terrible. You’re be so sorry to agree with this.”

Hera huffs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s been over a month since Jason started coming to the manor. There are things happening that neither Hera nor Jason knows, but the training continues.

The TV is on and the news of how the Penguin’s drug smuggling ring was stopped by the _dynamic-duo_. Hera doesn’t listen to the details but she knows this isn’t the big thing that was coming. Selina was nervous every time they go home. The number of times she allows Jason to go out alone decreased and has him stick to her whenever they have a job to do. Today was not that day though.

Today was Friday. Jason stays over the weekends now.

 

“Master Jason, I understand your dislike for asparagus. But I would have to ask you to eat it all, sir. They are very good for your health.”  
  
Hera’s tail swings from side to side, she looks like she isn’t paying attention but is looking at Jason from the corner of her eyes. He better eat those. Hera knows that Jason can feel her looking at him, so he huffs and pokes at the asparagus that are being kept on the edge of his plate.

“They’re just so… _soggy_.”

“They’re full of fiber, vitamin A,C,E, and  K. And many more that will help you grow.”

“But they’re _soggy_.”

 

Hera and Alfred huffs at the same time, and gave each other some exasperated looks. This child is stubborn.

Hera knows Jason eats everything, probably because of not having enough food before he came to live with Selina and the family. But for some reason, asparagus is his nemesis. He cannot eat it however they try to hide the taste.

Jason grumbles a little, but force the green vegetable into his mouth and munches on it. Hera observes and make sure he swallows it. She licks at her elongated nails, which she knows that Jason understands as her warning to him.

 

The asparagus is gone by the time Bruce walks into the kitchen. Jason was now drinking his hot cocoa.

Hera stands, swinging her tail. She feels unnerved with the large man. She quickly jumps to Jason’s lap, glaring at Bruce. The man knows well enough not to touch her after the large scratch he got on his arm the last time he tried.

“Hey Boss.”

“I see you managed to not get the wrath of Alfred.”

 Bruce sits next to Jason. Hera sees a small smile spread on the man’s face, and could feel Jason fighting to retrain in showing his excitement. She purrs a little bit when he scratches her neck, Hera puts in her mind that she would like to be brushed later. She was thinking where the brush was left when Jason’s phone rung.

“Oh. Sorry.”

Bruce hums as an answer and goes to grab a cup of coffee, but Hera knows he feels awkward whenever Jason talks to Selina.  She wonders if the man feels horrible of taking the time Jason can spend with Selina or if he feels jealous.

She wonders why humans are compliant and make everything difficult than it has to be. It’s annoying and tiresome, she wonders whether the capacity to learn the easy way was something difficult for their size. She huffs because a lot of the times humans can’t even hunt for themselves.

Hera is thankful that Bruce, while she isn’t happy about him and merely tolerates his presence, has enough ability to teach her kitten how to hunt and survive in the outside world. She knows that Jason had managed somehow by himself when his previous mother died, but he was still a little thing that Hera finds it amazing that he survived in the cold world alone.

She knows the danger and the darkness of the outside world because she lived there for a while before Selina took her in. She cleans her paws and tries to concentrate at Jason.

“Yeah. Nah, we’re done that. Yeah. I dunno, probably. Are you going there again? But I wanted to go with you!...Fine. _Fine_. Yeah I understand.”

Hera noticed that his voice sounded annoyed but his smile was big. She wonders if Jason misses his human-second-mother. She moves her eyes to look at Bruce watching the interaction from the corner of his eyes. He seemed to catch her stare and tries to pet her, forgetting what happened before. He thought twice when her eyes dilated.

“Ok. Yeah ok, I’ll tell him. I’m good. Ok. Yeah, see you tomorrow. Bye.”

The smile on Jason doesn’t disappear and Hera purrs a little bit.

“How is she?”

“Hmm? Good.”

She is probably going out tonight, Hera thinks.

“Is she going out somewhere tonight?”

Jason makes a vague _I dunno_ sound while stuffed himself with Alfred’s cookies. They were amazing and Jason will never be rude as to open his mouth when he is eating them. Hera huffs.

Bruce only returns with a small _hmm_ and goes back to his coffee. Hera can see that little smirk. She sort of wants to swat him.

“Well, alright. Go get ready for today’s workout after you’re done with that.”

“Are we going to do that jump-punch thing you showed me yesterday?”

“We’ll see.”

Hera looks at Jason finishing his drink and stands up quickly.

“Come on, Mama-cat.”

She jumps on his shoulder because she rather not wants to walk around right after she cleaned her paws. She hears the voice of the man telling Jason to give at least 30 minutes rest, which she simply decided to make it use for her brushing.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Just a thing I wanted to write. May continue or not. Let me know if there are any mistakes in the writing (ie grammar/spelling etc).


End file.
